Selene rose slowly, brushing off the forest dust from her skirt. Her lips curved, though her heart churned with a storm of hatred. She bowed lightly, as if in respect, and whispered in a voice so soft it could almost be mistaken for submission.
"Alpha," she said, her tone honeyed. "I don't like being with you."
Navien blinked, confused for a moment, but before he could react she continued, her smile never breaking.
"My ambitions are… greater than you can fulfill." Her eyes glimmered as she tilted her head in an innocent way. "But perhaps, if you tell me more about yourself… about your powerful friends… maybe then you could satisfy me."
Her words were playful, teasing, but her eyes searched his face carefully. She wanted names. She wanted to know which men had stood beside him when her mother was ruined, who still breathed and walked freely while her family was broken. She wanted to carve those names into her heart so she could destroy them, one by one.
